Many mobile devices, such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other handheld and wireless computing and communicating devices, currently perform numerous and complex functions. With the convergence of many such functions on a single mobile device, the majority of current mobile devices are either primarily telephone-centric, PDA-centric, or data device-centric. In other words, the design and form factor of the mobile device is defined largely by the primary functionality of the mobile device, as well as the mobile device's predecessor products.
The proliferation of services for mobile devices has spawned increased user desire for the ability to access such services on a single integrated device. Many voice-based services are designed for use with a telephone keypad and numeric entry, whereas many data-based services are designed for use with a QWERTY keyboard and text entry. As such, users with a device having a telephone keypad are made to compromise when using data-based services, and users with a device having a QWERTY keyboard are made to compromise when using voice-based services. Users want to use such services on a device that is easily held and carried, and having a form factor that facilitates ease of use when entering either text or numbers.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a mobile device that provides a key arrangement that allows a user to use provided services in a manner that provides greater ergonomic comfort to the user when entering text while generally retaining a desired form factor.